This morning, America 2050[3], the nation’s pro-high-speed rail group, released the first ever comparative study of nearly 8,000 potential high speed rail[4] corridors. The analysis revealed which routes are most suited to high-speed rail, based on factors that have contributed to rail ridership in other parts of the world. Of the top ten proposed corridors, seven of them stop in New York City. Click through for the details!

The New York to Washington D.C. route scored the highest, but the study, “High Speed Rail in America[5],” found that a rail along the whole Northeast Corridor, from Boston to Washington, D.C. with stops in New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, would be the most worthwhile. Many of the highest scoring corridors — like New York to Philadelphia and New York to Albany — are less than 150 miles long, making them much cheaper and easier to build than longer routes. In fact, the New York to Albany route is more cost effective than some routes that are already underway, like Orlando to Tampa.

According to the study, high-speed rails[4] work best in regions that have established transit ridership, large populations, and major employment centers (sound familiar?). Considering that the largest five cities in Northeast region account for 80 percent of the nation’s rail transit ridership and the fact the New York City leads the nation in population and employment, it’s easy to understand why high-speed routes to and from the Big Apple scored the highest.